Gregorio Lavilla may have the lead in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, but as the season reaches its halfway point at Snetterton on Sunday, Shane Byrne is ready to score his first win of the year.

Gregorio Lavilla may have the lead in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, but as the season reaches its halfway point at Snetterton on Sunday, Shane Byrne is ready to score his first win of the year.

The Rizla Suzuki ace, BSB champion in 2003, enjoyed a stint in Moto GP before heading back to the UK at the start of the season. At Oulton Park in May he scored two podium finishes despite suffering from an illness that required him to have an intravenous drip on the morning of the event, and he is now ready to go one better.

Byrne said: “Nothing shy of podium results will do for me for the rest of the season, starting at Snetterton.

“My Rizla Suzuki tends to be the fastest bike through the speed traps, so I'm hoping to make the most of that on the long Revett Straight at Snetterton. A pair of wins would be nice.”

The second Rizla Suzuki GSXR-1000 machine of James Haydon will be looking to have a better weekend, as at Mallory Park a fall in free practice left him sidelined for the rest of the event.

“I've seen the specialist doctors after my crash at the previous round and I should be fully fit for Snetterton,” said Haydon.

“I like the circuit a lot, it's super fast and that suits the Rizla Suzuki down to the ground. Snetterton also marks the mid-way point of the season and I plan on having an excellent second half of the year with plenty of top results.”

Competition in this year's BSB is fierce. Lavilla's team-mate, Leon Haslam, has been pushing the Spaniard hard, while Japanese HM Plant Honda rider Ryuichi Kiyonari won at Snetterton in 2005 and never gives up in any race. With so many top calibre riders in the championship it will be anyone's guess as to who comes out on top in the two races at Snetterton.

Defending champion Lavilla has been a consistent podium finisher in all the rounds so far and will be aiming for another high points haul in Norfolk.

He said: “I came here to Snetterton for the first time last year and won one of the races.” said Lavilla. “It is quite a straightforward track and I enjoyed it here and having done well in the last few rounds of the championship I am looking forward to going back there. I know there are still a lot of rounds to go so I will keep focusing on each one as they come and hopefully my good run of results will continue.”

Norfolk riders on the British Superbike programme include Horsford's Sam Bishop in the Virgin Mobile Cup and Norwich's Anthony Rogers in the British 125GP championship.

Sunday's programme starts at 9am with the National Superstock Championship warm-up. The two British Superbike Championship races are at 1.15pm and 3.45pm.